Sign the Open Letter to All Political Parties

We are writing today to encourage you to clearly demonstrate your support for libraries in your party’s manifesto commitments. We believe that libraries transcend political parties and politics and that our librarians need stable funding to do their life-changing work well. We intend to #VoteLibraries this December.

Like all public services, libraries have seen very significant cuts in public funding since 2010. Some Councils have responded by investing in the development of their libraries on behalf of local people. Sadly, many have not been in a position to – particularly those in poorer areas where local taxation is not sufficient to maintain the service. The result is a two-tier library service, further reducing the life chances and social mobility of children in poorer parts of the country.

On the 15th October at the House of Lords, CILIP and The Big Issue published Public Libraries: The Case for Support – the first comprehensive body of evidence of the impact of public libraries in towns, cities and rural areas.

Which is why we would like to see a commitment from our political parties to support: 

• Increased financial support to Local Government for libraries, supporting the Local Government Association call for a fair and sustainable funding settlement;
• A long-term improvement in funding to schools, colleges and Universities, enabling learning providers to invest in their library and information professional workforce;
• Improve funding and policy for prisons, ensuring that they address prisoner education through libraries alongside the traditional ‘crime and punishment’ agenda of Government;
• Fair and sustainable funding to the Devolved Nations to ensure that devolved powers are matched by greater fiscal autonomy and sufficient resources;
• Increased funding to Health Education England (HEE) to implement the findings of the independent Topol Review, including increasing the library and knowledge specialist workforce.

Our libraries have responded to austerity with resilience and an unwavering focus on public service. We now desperately need fresh investment to help us prepare for our growing population. This is why our Case for Support calls on Treasury to ensure a fair funding settlement for Local Government and to provide new funding up to £50m per year over 5 years through DCMS to the Arts Council England to create a Public Library Improvement Fund, targeted to support libraries in those communities that risk being ‘left behind’.

Stabilising funding for Councils and introducing new development funding will allow us to revitalise and modernise our public library services and invest in the professional library workforce.

We hope you will consider making a strong commitment to our local communities when writing your manifesto.